The Underground Railroad eBook

The spectators numbered about three hundred.
This was a larger number than Mr. Denny had been accustomed
to perform before, consequently he was seized with
embarrassment; looking confused he left the soap house
and went to his office, to await the dispersion of
the crowd.

The throng finally retired, and left George hanging
in mortal agony. Human nature here made a death-struggle;
the cords which bound his wrists were unloosed, and
George was then prepared to strike for freedom at
the mouth of the cannon or point of the bayonet.
How Denny regarded the matter when he found that George
had not only cheated him out of the anticipated delight
of cowhiding him, but had also cheated him out of
himself is left for the imagination to picture.

George fled from Kent; he was accompanied by a comrade
whose name inadvertently was not recorded; he, however,
was described as a dark, round, and full-faced, stout-built
man, with bow legs, and bore the appearance of having
been used hard and kept down, and in ignorance, &c.
Hard usage constrained him to flee from his sore oppression.

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*

ARRIVAL FROM DELAWARE, 1858.

JOHN WEEMS, ALIAS JACK HERRING.

Although Jack was but twenty-three years of age, he
had tasted the bitter cup of Slavery pretty thoroughly
under Kendall B. Herring, who was a member of the
Methodist Church, and in Jack’s opinion a “mere
pretender, and a man of a very bad disposition.”
Jack thought that he had worked full long enough for
this Herring for nothing. When a boy twelve years
of age, his mother was sold South; from that day, until
the hour that he fled he had not heard a word from
her. In making up his mind to leave Slavery,
the outrage inflicted upon his mother only tended
to increase his resolution.

In speaking of his mistress, he said that “she
was a right fine woman.” Notwithstanding
all his sufferings in the Kendall family, he seemed
willing to do justice to his master and mistress individually.
He left one sister free and one brother in the hands
of Herring. Jack was described as a man of dark
color, stout, and well-made.

* * * *
*

ARRIVAL FROM MARYLAND, 1858.

RUTH HARPER, GEORGE ROBINSON, PRISCILLA GARDENER,
AND JOSHUA JOHN ANDERSON.

Ruthie’s course in seeking her freedom left
John McPherson a woman less to work for him, and to
whip, sell, or degrade at his pleasure. It is
due to candor, however, to say that she admitted that
she had not been used very roughly by Mr. McPherson.
Ruth was rather a nice-looking young woman, tall,
and polite in her manners. She came from Frederick,
Maryland.